Amid reports of EVM tampering and alleged movement of the voting machines without the involvement of any political party representative especially in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, the Opposition has raised questions over the transparency of Election Commission’s (EC) mechanism for the May 23 result. Representatives of 21 opposition parties, including the Congress, will meet the Election Commission on Tuesday to flag their concern about Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Trail Machines). Before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Opposition was demanding ballot polls after several EVMs developed technical issues. The Opposition wants to meet the officials of the Election Commission to complain about EVMs and VVPAT security and regarding tallying of VVPAT slips with EVM figures.
Leaders of opposition will be meeting the polling body to address cross-check the figures presented by both VVPAT and EVM during the counting of votes on Thursday. The opposition delegation will comprise representatives from Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Telugu Desam Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Left parties. The Commission will counter-check the VVPAT and EVM tallies in five randomly selected polling stations in an Assembly segment. The Supreme Court, earlier this month had rejected a review petition filed by 21 opposition parties for verification of voter tally in at least 25% of booths.
Opposition’s move has come after exit polls on Sunday predicted a smooth victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition at the centre. Majority of the polls have predicted that BJP will be winning over 300+ seats when the result is declared on May 23, followed by Congress-led UPA which will have to settle with seats between 100-150.
The Opposition has dismissed the exit polls predictions citing rigged mechanism being deployed to get the result. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee rubbishing exit polls result said they were a cue to manipulate or replace thousands of EVMs. Congress President Rahul Gandhi had also tweeted about the manipulation of EVMs and their impact on the 2019 election result.
Meanwhile. BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi responding to concerns over EVM veracity has asked the opposition to accept the poll verdict on May 23 and not resort to blame-game.
